One golden rule: Don't touch any part of your face with your hands unless you've just thoroughly wash your hands with soap.

I used to get sick a lot as a child... poor immunity was blamed. It turns out that I just have this bad habit of constantly touching parts of my face with my hand (germs and virus gets into the body this way). After I got rid of this habit I hardly get sick anymore.

Be sure to get plenty of sleep at night. Shortchanging yourself of sleep will put your immune system at risk. Drink OJ and eat other good sources of vitamin C (with bioflavanoids). If you decide to supplement with C, opt for a product that includes bioflavanoids. Ascorbyl palmitate, a fat soluble version of vit C, may or may not provide additional benefit.

If I suspect that I've been exposed to the common cold, try Zicam's (zinc gel) formulation for colds. I have found this to be highly effective for minimizing the severity & duration of a cold. However, it is less effective for the flu. Don't really know if Zicam's flu products are effective -- never tried them. Check out the following for more info on foods & supps:

I caught a bad cold recently by some idiot shaking my hand. I should have known better when I saw his runny nose earlier. Anyway, I didn't carry my usual Purell bottle with me and I paid dearly. Always sanitize or wash your hands after shaking hands, touching objects, before you eat, etc..

I have a simple rule. Eat well. Every time I have a busy week and skip some meals I and up catching a flu or a virus. If you are weak you will likely get sick. I can tell you that, for me, me rule works.

Barely grass powder mixed with water - at least 36 ounces a day. It is alkaline and contains a ton of vitamins and minerals. Plus it contains chlorophyll - which is almost molecularly identical to blood hemoglobin - and is well-known for boosting the immune system.

As long as the powder to water ratio is not too heavy on the powder side, it doesn't have much of a taste. The little flavor it has is kind of good. In fact, my wife won't drink any water without bg powder.

Wet hair does not give you a cold. You can only catch a cold from a virus.

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Actually, there's some evidence that getting cold might help you catch a cold, given that the virus is ubiquitous in many environments. I read a study in which test subjects were exposed to a cold virus. Some of the students put their feet in ice water until their body temperatures dropped slightly. The group that had the feet in ice water contracted more active infections than the group that didn't have a drop in body temperature. It's only a single study, but it is something to consider.

Actually, there's some evidence that getting cold might help you catch a cold, given that the virus is ubiquitous in many environments. I read a study in which test subjects were exposed to a cold virus. Some of the students put their feet in ice water until their body temperatures dropped slightly. The group that had the feet in ice water contracted more active infections than the group that didn't have a drop in body temperature. It's only a single study, but it is something to consider.

My older brother is a pediatrician and I posed the question of why colds only show up when the weather gets cold. He said it is because everyone spends more time indoors spreading germs to each other. In the summer time, more people are outside and in less contact with each other.

Actually, there's some evidence that getting cold might help you catch a cold, given that the virus is ubiquitous in many environments. I read a study in which test subjects were exposed to a cold virus. Some of the students put their feet in ice water until their body temperatures dropped slightly. The group that had the feet in ice water contracted more active infections than the group that didn't have a drop in body temperature. It's only a single study, but it is something to consider.

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Could you provide any credible evidence to support this? I've been under the impression that wet hair causing flu/colds is an old wive's tale. Ditto for cold weather causing increasing the likelihood of coming down with a cold or the flu. Another variation that I've heard is that going to bed with wet hair causes headaches. I've heard this variation quite a lot from Asian friends. Can anyone provide evidence to support this claim?

Could you provide any credible evidence to support this? I've been under the impression that wet hair causing flu/colds is an old wive's tale. Ditto for cold weather causing increasing the likelihood of coming down with a cold or the flu. Another variation that I've heard is that going to bed with wet hair causes headaches. I've heard this variation quite a lot from Asian friends. Can anyone provide evidence to support this claim?

We studied in Physiology that you can get sick simply by breathing in bacteria through your nose. If a sick person right next to you sneezes, and you breath it all in, you might get sick (even if you never made physical contact). I could be wrong though.

I think that might explain why I get sick frequently when I'm in school. I rarely shake hands, but lots of people around me are constantly sneezing.

i drink one of those NAKED juices that come in pints and always sleep with a shirt on and dry my hair before i sleep. i haven't been sick since January!

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You just implied that sleeping with a shirt on has prevented you from getting sick. How does that work?

On a related note, I love people that make false connections between their actions and what they feel is a result of their actions. Discussions about sickness always bring up things like this, so I usually try and avoid it with people I know, otherwise I start losing faith in humanity.

ANYWAY. How does sleeping with a shirt on prevent you from getting sick?

As far as the cold contributing to sickness, I don't have much science to go on, but what little I know has lead me to believe that cold does not directly increase your chances of getting sick. What I do know is that cold viruses thrive in DRY climates, which often comes along with the winter and colder weather around here. So maybe wet hair can help?

Also, being cold doesn't help. If you're sitting around freezing and your body is fighting and using energy to maintain body temperature, this decreases the strength of your immune system. How big of a deal this is, I have no idea.

there's a difference between getting sick, and getting rid of your sickness.

to prevent from getting sick, obviously you need a strong immune system. the high quality vitamins i take have strengthened my immune system so much that i haven't gotten sick since i've started taking them. everyone around me is sick right now but i don't get sick. of course everyone knows vitamin C helps prevents sickness because of it's help with the immune system, but most vitamin C supplements don't work well enough. there are compliments to vitamin C that makes it absorb unlike those straight up vitamin C stuff that you just pee out.

to get rid of your cold, as everyone here has stated, LOTS of water!!!! LOTS OF SLEEP!!! EAT HEALTHY!!! (and of course my vitamins have helped me out as well since i get good balanced nutrients in my diet)

One of the best sources of zinc is possibly Zincum Gluconicum. The form that clearly appears to be the most effective is as a nasal gel as found in Zicam's Cold remedies. The Zincum Gluconicum found in lozenges, such as Cold-Eeze, do not appear to be as effective as in the nasal gel product.

Note that Zincum Gluconicum has been found to be very effective against the common cold but might not do much for the flu. Its effectiveness has been reported in the prestigious QJM. The study can be found on PubMed.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. The abstract can be found at the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) web site:

I feel my first cold coming on. It started with me sneezing all day. Normally I don't have allergies, so I was suspicious. Now, the nose is stuffed up. My wife is pregnant, so I was trying so hard not to bring something home from work. Guess I failed on that one...

^ mikeler, if you start with the ZicamCold Remedy (nasal gel) within the 1st 2 days of the appearance of symptoms, assuming it is the common cold & not the flu, you can cut the severity & the duration of the cold significantly. If you start it too late, you will probably not see much benefit.

How fast does Zicam Cold Remedy NasalGel shorten the duration of the common cold?

"A clinical study has shown that Zicam Nasal Cold Remedy gets rid of the cold three times faster, reducing the duration by an average of 75% when taken at the onset of symptoms."

Thanks SystemicAnomaly. I started taking a zinc effervescent last night. I'll try anything to get rid of a cold, so I'm heading out in a few minutes to try your suggestion. It is a little bit better this morning already. Thanks again.

Regarding Zicam, has anyone read about a lawsuit or something in those lines regarding loss of smell/taste with use of Zicam. Think they settled with the people who had this side-effect, so just a precaution.

I bought Zicam cos a friend told me about, just did a google search just to find out more and came across the link. So decided not to take it at all.

I jsut try to eat healthy, work out/tennis, take my daily multi-vitamins, calcium and Fish oil and don't get sick very often. Also I try my best not to take any kind of medications as much as possible unless I get really really sick, hence also decided against Zicam.

Regarding Zicam, has anyone read about a lawsuit or something in those lines regarding loss of smell/taste with use of Zicam. Think they settled with the people who had this side-effect, so just a precaution.

I bought Zicam cos a friend told me about, just did a google search just to find out more and came across the link. So decided not to take it at all...

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Oh, yeah. I had forgotten about the Zicam stories that surfaced about 5-6 years ago. It is possible that this was a hoax perpetrated by way of anecdotal emails. To my knowledge, in the 10+ yrs since Zicam was developed, no scientific studies have ever borne out this cause-effect.

I've been using Zicam for 9 years now with no "ill" effects (pun, shamelessly intended). The FDA considers these products to be GRAS (generally recognized as safe) -- not that I am an ardent fan of the FDA. Snopes.com, who investigates rumors, urban legends & apocryphal anecdotes, looked into the story a couple of years back. This is what they has to say about the claims:
www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/Zicam.asp
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^ Nasal gel (Zicam) is not really all that scary. It is orders of magnitude more effective than any zinc lozenges -- even considerably more effective than Cold Eeze, which contains zinc gluconate, the same active ingredient found in Zicam Cold remedies.

Try your own research on the connection between Zicam and anosmia (the olfactory dysfunction). In the 10+ years since the nasal gel version of zinc gluconate was developed, no scientific studies have shown the cause -effect relationship between Zicam & anosmia -- it appears that the claims have all been anecdotal. Since those original email stories around 2002-2003, the claims have not really resurfaced, even tho' the Zicam formulation is the same as it was 9+ years ago.

^ Nasal gel (Zicam) is not really all that scary. It is orders of magnitude more effective than any zinc lozenges -- even considerably more effective than Cold Eeze, which contains zinc gluconate, the same active ingredient found in Zicam Cold remedies.

Try your own research on the connection between Zicam and anosmia (the olfactory dysfunction). In the 10+ years since the nasal gel version of zinc gluconate was developed, no scientific studies have shown the cause -effect relationship between Zicam & anosmia -- it appears that the claims have all been anecdotal. Since those original email stories around 2002-2003, the claims have not really resurfaced, even tho' the Zicam formulation is the same as it was 9+ years ago.

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I'm not aware of any credible studies either. I've been using Zican with excellent results for years. You're not supposed to "snort" Zicam, which some of these knuckleheads may have done Squirt a little 1/8" beyond the nostril opening for a coating effect.

I also agree with Automatix. Maybe it's a placebo thing but when I start to feel crummy, I make a VERY garlicy batch of sauteed broccoli, consume a ton of fluids/OJ/berries, even Emergen-C and drink hot tea with lemon. I haven't had more than one cold per year for the last 10 years.

Like I said before, the best preventive medicine is to constantly clean your hands and since you can't be around a sink all the time, use Purell. In this day of constant hand shaking, you need to carry around a hand sanitizer. You can also do a Howie Mandel and just fist everyone you meet.

Like I said before, the best preventive medicine is to constantly clean your hands and since you can't be around a sink all the time, use Purell. In this day of constant hand shaking, you need to carry around a hand sanitizer. You can also do a Howie Mandel and just fist everyone you meet.

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You said it, Rickson. Working in a hospital, I probably wash my hands and/or use hand sanitizer 20-30 times daily. It's the first line of defense. I think we should just bow, Asian style Merry Christmas, buddy!

Well my guess is a small company isn't going to pay out $12 million if they had a lot of evidence that there was no connection (although nothing would suprise me in the legal "profession" nowadays).

I also completely don't buy the company's statement that the nasal q-tip was unrelated to the lawsuits.

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Hard to say what goes on behind closed doors. Perhaps Matrixx decided the paying this settlement was the best way to deal with this nuisance suit -- it might have been the best financial option open to them.

I would have thought that some study outside of Matrixx own development studies would have been conducted in the 6 years since the stories cropped up. If the "problem" really is considered a significant health risk, I would think that some government agency would step in and have something to say about it -- even if it were just to require Matrixx to put a warning label regarding anosmia on their Zicam zinc gel products.

Hard to say what goes on behind closed doors. Perhaps Matrixx decided the paying this settlement was the best way to deal with this nuisance suit -- it might have been the best financial option open to them.

I would have thought that some study outside of Matrixx own development studies would have been conducted in the 6 years since the stories cropped up. If the "problem" really is considered a significant health risk, I would think that some government agency would step in and have something to say about it -- even if it were just to require Matrixx to put a warning label regarding anosmia on their Zicam zinc gel products.

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As I mentioned, when things turn legal, all logic goes out the window, so I don't disagree with your first paragraph.

As to the second, I wouldn't use the lack of studies on a non-patentable product as evidence of anything.

Be sure to get plenty of sleep at night. Shortchanging yourself of sleep will put your immune system at risk. Drink OJ and eat other good sources of vitamin C (with bioflavanoids). If you decide to supplement with C, opt for a product that includes bioflavanoids. Ascorbyl palmitate, a fat soluble version of vit C, may or may not provide additional benefit.

If I suspect that I've been exposed to the common cold, try Zicam's (zinc gel) formulation for colds. I have found this to be highly effective for minimizing the severity & duration of a cold. However, it is less effective for the flu. Don't really know if Zicam's flu products are effective -- never tried them. Check out the following for more info on foods & supps:

Re: the OJ stuff, I have stopped drinking it. I do take a centrum MV every day for the vitamin C. Some time ago, my doctor hinted that OJ has a lot of propoganda behind it (like milk) due to the economic importance in several states, and I would be better off w/o the sugar. I tried the low-calorie versions and they tasted like cr.. Then recently I read in a woman's medical mag (I stole it from the doctor's office when I took my wife there) that the risk of diabetes increases 18% with just 1 glass of juice a day. Since then, we have stopped buying juice for ourselves (only for the kid).